It is said that you can not improve unless you have some metric with which to measure against. Fortunately, for websites there are many metrics to use. Following is a list of resources that have been useful to us as we grow.

1. Open Source Analytics
   1. AWStats

      This log analyzer works as a CGI or from the command line and shows you all possible information your log contains, in few graphical web pages. You can check out a demo at the website.

   2. WebStats dotNet

      WebStats dotNet generates website statistics and analytics from IIS http log files.

   3. Breadboard BI Web Analytics

      This project uses open source tools to collect and distribute web analytics data. It extracts data from log files using ETL objects. The data is loaded into database tables. It presents the information in dashboards, analysis cubes, and reports for businesses.

2. Google Searches (type these strings into a google search bar)

   1. link: [subdomain.yourdomain.com]  -site:[yourdomain.com]

      This will show you who is linking to you.

3. Google Tools
   1. Google Alerts

      Track any news events related to your domain.

   2. Google Site Status

      Use this step-by-step process to learn more about your site’s status in the Google index.

   3. Google Webmaster

      A free and easy way to make your site more Google-friendly.

   4. Google Analytics

      Learn about where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site. Here are some tips for usage.

4. Web Based Tools
   1. PopURI.us

      A tool to check at-a-glance the link popularity of any site based on its ranking (Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Technorati etc.), social bookmarks (del.icio.us, etc), subscribers (Bloglines, etc) and more!

   2. Xinu

      It is an aggregation tool like popuri.us. Here is an implementation: NeoHeat.com

   3. Alexa

      Traffic analysis based on data collected by Alexa toolbar owners.

   4. Compete

      Compete triangulates multiple data sources, including ISP, Panel & Toolbar to estimate U.S. traffic.

   5. GoogleRankings.com

      Enter a set keywords and find out how a web site ranks in Google.

   6. FeedBurner

      Analytics for your blog.

   7. GetClicky

      Real time, API, RSS feeds, Spy, Outbound link tracking, IP tagging, TagClouds, Data export, Google Maps, SSL support, …

5. Internal Methods
   1. AJAX Logging

      Some thought on this here.

   2. Custom Data Logging

      Spend some time thinking about what data matters most relevant to your business model and your website. If the above tools can not capture that data, build the data collection tools into your code.

Using some combination of these tools should give you all the metrics you need. Now, the key will be to monitor the statistics regularly and tie them with your marketing efforts and making sure you adjust your strategy accordingly.

One method that has worked for us is to take all the metrics you have collected and assign a weight to each one. Then create a script that automatically grabs the metrics from each source, applies the weight and then comes up with a final numeric value that can give a quick status on your progress.

Elmer Thomas Jr. is Co-founder of ATL Innovations, Inc., an award winning web and software development company dedicated to bridging the digital divide and ThemBid.com, a service offering free advertising for businesses that makes finding services and products easy for consumers. You can find out more about Mr. Thomas at ATLInnovations.com and ElmerThomas.com.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 3:04 am and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.